


Can Love Survive?

by Yagi



Series: Third Life [2]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: M/M, Reincarnation, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2019-06-17 10:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15459156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yagi/pseuds/Yagi
Summary: Kunzite and Zoisite have been reincarnated in modern-day America, and have found one another again at last. But can love survive the trials and tribulations of a whole new life in a new century, on the other side of the world?





	1. Ch1

“That’s a nice t-shirt,” Zarah chirped. “Have you ever really been to Australia?”

 

“Not yet. But this is what they put on me when they took me to the hospital,” Kurt said, “after they fished me out of the river.”

 

Zarah took hold of the taller man’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that… that you’re still having to go through so much, what with the boarding home and your parents and everything.”

 

“Don’t be. Everything that’s happened so far has led up to our finding each other again. And the boarding home…” He was about to say it wasn’t so bad, but it kind of was. “It keeps me humble.”

 

“It’s hard to imagine the great Kunzite-sama ever being humble,” Zarah teased.

 

Kurt stopped walking, causing Zarah to stop and look back at him questioningly.

 

“Zarah, does it bother you that I’m no longer Kunzite?” he asked.

 

“Not really. I’m just glad to have you here with me again, no matter how much things have changed for us,” Zarah said. “Though I have to admit I kind of do miss the cape.”

 

“As do I, at times,” Kurt admitted. “Hardly practical outside the Dark Kingdom, though.”

 

Zarah imagined Kurt striding down the street in his current outfit and Kunzite’s billowing white cape, and giggled. The corner of Kurt’s mouth quirked up just a little as if he knew the thought that had just run through his pupil’s head.

 

Zarah frowned as he looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings.

 

“Where are we going, anyway?”

 

“I’m looking at an apartment today. I thought you would appreciate being one of the first to see it.”

 

“An apartment? Is it a done deal or did you want me to help you pick one out?”

 

“The apartment is mine if I want it,” Kurt replied. “Don't get too excited; it’s small, and it's HUD-assisted, but it would be a place of my own, which is something I haven't had in several months now. I’ve almost forgotten what it feels like to sleep in a room by myself.”

 

“You know, you don’t have to sleep alone all the time…” Zarah said devilishly.

 

Kurt pointedly ignored the remark.

 

“We’re here.”

 

“Where?” Zarah asked, looking around. Kurt gestured to the building complex, and Zarah couldn't help making a sour face. “I hope it looks nicer on the inside.”

 

Kurt chuckled a little as he placed a hand on the small of Zarah's back and led him inside.

 

The place was actually not as bad as Zarah thought, compared with most other government-subsidized apartment buildings. It was surprisingly clean and in good repair, despite being located in one of the poorer areas of town. The apartment Kurt had come to look at was small and unfurnished, with plain beige walls and a low brown carpet. At least it wouldn’t show the dirt, Zarah thought, not that he figured Kurt for a bad housekeeper. Its tiny kitchen was delineated from the living room only by the fact it was tiled with stick-on vinyl squares with a faux marble look that was fooling no one. The bathroom, tiled to match the kitchen, had only a shower rather than a real bathtub.

 

“This closet is tiny,” Zarah noted as they took a look around the bedroom. His own room at his parents’ house had a walk-in.

 

“It’s fine; I have only a few things, anyway.”

 

“So what do you think?” the woman showing the property asked. She was an attractive, middle-aged African-American woman whom Kurt had introduced as Linda, who apparently worked at the mental health center he attended. (Not that Zarah thought his mentor needed a psychiatrist, but he understood the hoops Kurt had to jump through to get this kind of aid.)

 

“It’s perfect,” Kurt said.

 

Zarah knew the man deserved better, but nodded as if in agreement anyway. It was the best Kurt could do for now, living on disability checks and a part time job at a home improvement store, with no help from or even contact with his wealthy family.

 

“Great. Come by my office Monday and we’ll get those papers signed,” Linda said. “We can help you transport whatever furniture and housewares you have over here, too- help you get things set up, if you like.”

 

“I have very little to transport- a suitcase or two, at best. Any furniture I need will likely have to come from Goodwill.”

  
_ Goodwill? _ Zarah thought he might die just a little inside at the mention of Kurt, his Kunzite-sama, shopping in such a place. But it was very  _ him  _ to do something like that, Zarah had to admit. He was still “playing the game,” doing whatever it took to achieve his desired end. Smiling fondly, he took hold of Kurt’s hand once again. No matter how he might complain at times, he really was proud of how well his mentor was doing, especially in so short a time.


	2. Ch2

There wasn’t much furniture in the apartment: a gray faux suede loveseat and sturdy wooden dining table with two mismatching chairs in the living/dining area, a full-sized bed with a bookcase headboard and a small chest of drawers in the bedroom, and in the bathroom just a small storage cabinet, all picked up at Goodwill. The only electronics in the place so far were a compact microwave and a clock radio; the TV would wait until Kurt had enough to buy a modestly-sized flatscreen. There were exactly five outfits in the closet, five pairs of socks and underwear in the chest of drawers and three pairs of shoes lined up on the closet floor. The only decorations were the drawings Zarah had done for him and a couple of pictures the two had taken together and had printed out on photo paper. Many of the (seldom matching) housewares such as dishes, towels, shower curtain, etc. were donated. One of the neighbors across the hall had been kind enough to buy him a couple of bags of groceries to get him started, and a couple of others gifted him with dishes of tuna casserole and macaroni and cheese. Despite the poor area and the fact his living space was Spartan compared to the luxury he had grown up in, Kurt was already starting to accept this place would be his home for a while. He was lucky to have gotten one so soon; had he turned down this apartment it could have been a year or more before he got another chance.

 

His first night in the new place was strange; he had gotten so used to the thin foam mattresses and flat pillows of the hospital and boarding home that his innerspring mattress and fluffy new pillow made him feel like he was sinking. After lying awake for a half hour tossing, turning and rearranging to try to get comfortable, he banished himself to the living room and lay down on the loveseat. At first he rested his head on one arm of the couch and draped his long legs over the other, but by the time he managed to fall asleep he had somehow managed to fold himself to fit tightly curled on the cushions with only a striped throw pillow underneath his head.

 

Kurt was awakened not by the alarm on the clock radio, but by the sound of the tumblers in the front door lock turning over. Someone was trying to get into his apartment. With the size of the place he was able to quickly and quietly get himself up and over against the wall by the door just as it started to open. He took hold of the arm that pushed it open, threw the person attached to it to the floor and was on top of them in an instant. In the light that streamed in from the hallway he could make out a youthful face, and the body underneath him was short and slight. A teenager?

 

“What are you doing here?” he demanded. It wasn’t as if he had anything worth stealing.

 

“I-I come here sometimes when my parents put me out,” the intruder said. “You live here?”

 

“I do now.”

 

“Well, I’ll just go, then… find a new place to crash… if you would kindly get off me.”

 

He took a moment to frisk the intruder to make sure there were no weapons before he got up and flipped on the lightswitch beside the door.

 

“You’re a girl,” was the first thing he noticed. The second was the split lip and large purple shiner on her right eye.

 

“Last time I checked,” she said, pointedly ignoring the hand Kurt put out to help her off the floor and standing on her own.

 

“Did your parents do that to your face?”

 

“What do you care?” she asked, a bit loudly for the middle of the night. “I just broke into your apartment!”

 

“You were only looking for a place to go,” Kurt said, much more calmly and quietly. “What’s your name?”

 

“Is this some kind of macho male fantasy you have of saving me from my parents, and then I’m supposed to be so grateful I come and live with you and be your girlfriend?” she asked. “‘Cuz, like, I’m fifteen and you’ve gotta be…” She figured by his gray hair he had to be at least her dad’s age!

 

“I’m involved,” he said. He didn’t mention the fact it was with someone only a couple of years older than she was. “I’m only trying to help. You can’t seriously expect me to see you in this condition and do nothing.”

 

“You think you’re the first person to try to help? My parents are experts at lying their way out of these things.”

 

The thought of going over there and threatening the girl’s parents did occur to him, but he couldn’t risk getting himself in trouble helping this stranger whom, it also occurred to him, could just as well be lying about her circumstances.

 

“First thing first, we have to get you looked at and your injuries documented,” he said. “Do you have a phone?”

 

“Don’t you?”

 

In truth, Kurt had recently acquired one of those, but it lay on top of the chest of drawers in the bedroom, and he wasn’t about to turn his back on her and leave her alone in the room.

 

“Let’s use yours.”

 

“If it didn’t get crushed and broken when you threw me on the ground,” she grumbled as she pulled the device out of her pocket. “Ohmygod, you cracked my screen! Look at this! Look what you did!”

 

“Considering you broke into my apartment first, I think we’re just about even.” He took the phone from her and opened the camera function, gently lifting her face into the light to get better pictures of the wounds. “I’m Kurt, by the way.”

 

The girl sighed and tucked her long, lank, dark brown hair behind her ears. “Britney,” she replied, “Like the singer. Are you finished?” Kurt snapped one more photo and then nodded. He was debating whether it was enough of an emergency to contact 911 when she interrupted, “Hospital number’s in my contacts under ‘Angela’ in case my parents look in it.”

 

He opened the contacts and, sure enough, there was an Angela in there, labeled simply “Angela M.” That would be Angel of Mercy, if he had to guess. He called the contact and tried to explain to the woman who answered what had happened. He left out the part where Britney had broken in, and instead just said she had come to his door seeking help.

 

“Could you send an ambulance right away?”

 

“No!” she protested, eyes large with alarm. “Those cost so much. Why can’t you just take me?”

 

“Because I don’t have a car,” he admitted.

 

“Then let’s call an Uber. They take me there, it’s like twenty bucks. The ambulance does, it’s more like two thousand.”

 

“All right, no ambulance,” he said into the phone. “We’ll be there at the speed of Uber.”

 

Which was not nearly as fast as he would have expected. Britney had taken her phone back and pulled up the Uber app, but nearby rides in this part of town at this time of night were hard to come by. Probably the only people even out getting Ubers this time of night were drunks needing picking up from the bar. It took half an hour just to find a nearby car to do the pickup, and it would be another six before the car got there. Fortunately Kurt had been sleeping in a gray t-shirt and gray plaid pajama pants, so he wouldn’t be indecent (since he still didn’t want to leave her in the room alone while he went to change.) For her part, Britney was wearing a pink tank top and coordinating striped capri pants that could very well have also been pajamas. The night was a bit cool, but she wasn’t shivering yet. Where was that car?

 

“Here it comes,” he said more to himself than to her.

 

It was a red Toyota Camry, Britney noted, just like the app said, and as it drew closer she was able to compare the license plate to the one on the screen. She opened the rear passenger side door and climbed in without hesitation. Kurt opened the front passenger door to get in, not trusting a vulnerable teenaged girl in a strange car with a strange man. Besides which, he was starting to feel just a bit respon-

 

The thought was left unfinished in his mind as the interior lights illuminated the driver. Sapphire eyes peered out of a light-complected, sharp-featured face crowned with a head of long auburn curls spilling over his shoulders.

 

“Nephrite?”


	3. Ch3

“Nicholas Boivin,” the driver said. He pronounced it the French way. “You may call me Nick.”

“Kurt Sadik,” the silver-haired man introduced himself in kind, offering a hand.

Nick looked him up and down before accepting the offered hand. If the man hadn’t just spoken his former name, he would have figured this was just some random guy who happened to have Kunzite’s coloring. He certainly did look different in this life! The goatee put Nick in mind of the evil Spock from the Mirror Universe. He wondered how much of the leader of the Shitennou remained inside the other man. His next thought was that, if Kunzite was here, did that mean Zoisite was as well? His knuckles whitened as he clutched the steering wheel harder. That little prick had him killed in their previous life and, well, he thought he was over it back when he thought he would never have to see Zoisite again. Now he was seriously considering harming or killing Zoisite (or whatever he was called now) if he ever ran into him. But he couldn’t do that, could he? Not in this life. In this life there were consequences for assault or murder, and he wasn’t about to end up in jail over some boy he’d never even met.

“Can we get going now? I’m not paying waiting fees for you two to stare at each other all night,” Britney said.

There was uncomfortable silence all the way to Angel of Mercy. Well, the radio was on, but only barely, not loud enough to understand the words. It sounded like a classic rock station. No one made any conversation, which given the awkwardness of the situation, may have been more of a blessing than anything.

Nick pulled into the drop-off circle in front of the hospital to let them out, and was only mildly surprised when Kurt touched his arm.

“Come inside,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

Nick hesitated. The two of them had never been friends back in the Dark Kingdom, but now? Well, it would be good to have someone he could talk to about past lives who wouldn’t think he was a raving lunatic.

“All right. Just let me find a place to park.”

Even then there was a certain temptation to drive away and never look back, but in the end, he did pull into the parking structure. This time of night it wasn’t hard to find a parking spot.

He entered the hospital to the sounds of Britney yelling at Kurt about the cost of having the Uber driver wait, and Kurt offering to pay the waiting fee for as long as it took.

“No need,” Nick said. “I’m off the clock right now, so no one has to pay any extra.”

“Are you sure?”

“The emergency room wait could be hours, even this time of night,” Britney whispered. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“We got a lot of catching up to do, eh?” Nick said with a wink. His accent was unapologetically Quebecois.

“Indeed,” Kurt said as he took a seat in one of the waiting chairs and motioned for Nick to take the one beside him.

Nick skipped the indicated seat and sat in the next one, man-spreading and draping his arms over the backs of the chairs on either side of him.

“How much do you remember?”

“Enough,” Nick replied. “I remember what your little boyfriend did to me. Don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”

“That was another time, Nick, a whole other life. He’s different now; we all are. Zarah would never-”

Zarah? So that’s what he was calling himself. Pretty… sounded like a girls’ name, actually.

“I know, now that the law applies to us, he’d never try any such thing, but what if it didn’t? What would he do if he knew there would be no consequences?”

“You could say that about anyone in the world. What would we do if we knew we wouldn’t be punished? I prefer to believe most people are inherently good, that we’ve been raised with a strong moral compass, and that we would continue to do good whether threatened with consequences or not.”

Nick looked at Kurt incredulously. Since when did Kunzite believe in the inherent goodness of mankind? But the other man’s face showed no sign he was being facetious.

“You really have changed,” Nick marveled.

“Haven’t you?”


	4. Ch 4

Kurt understood where Nick was coming from. Zoisite had Nephrite killed in their previous life, after all. It only made sense for him to be wary. He couldn’t even blame Nick for still being angry after that. There was a temptation to just offer to introduce him to Zarah and let him see for himself how different the boy was… but was that a wise course of action? He wouldn’t want to put Zarah in any sort of danger.

 

“I can see the wheels turning in your head even now; can I be trusted around him?” Nick said. “Truthfully, before tonight I hardly even thought about him for years. Then I saw you, heard you say that name, and it all came flooding back. Your boyfriend took everything from me: my life, the girl who loved me unconditionally, my chance at redemption.”

 

Kurt nodded as he listened to the younger man enumerate his losses. He didn’t even try to justify it; it wouldn’t have done any good had he had. But what was done was done. Even if he had Zarah formally apologize, it wouldn’t change anything that had happened.

 

“You have your chance at a new life and redemption now, Nick. Beryl doesn’t control us anymore. You can be and do whatever you want.”

 

“An astrologer.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“That’s what I want to do with my life.”

 

“You mean an astronomer? Someone who studies the stars?”

 

Nick frowned a little at being corrected, but nodded. “I study at university during the day and drive for Uber nights and weekends to help keep my head above water.”

 

“When do you sleep?”

 

Nick shrugged. “I do what I have to do.”

 

Kurt nodded. He had a lot of experience with that, himself.

 

A nurse came for Britney, and Kurt volunteered to go back with her, but the girl refused.

 

“No offense, but you’re not my doctor or my dad,” she said. “Having you there would just be creepy.”

 

He sat back down and let the girl go back on her own. She had the hospital number hidden in her phone; she probably knew the procedures better than he did. He only hoped she would tell them the truth about what happened; a lot of victims of domestic violence were too afraid of retaliation to tell the truth.

 

“Who is she?” Nick asked the moment Britney was out of the room.

 

“I caught her trying to break into my new apartment. She used to stay there whenever her parents threw her out. They’re the ones who did that to her face.”

 

“You gonna send her back home to them?”

 

“I would rather not, if I have any say in the matter. I hope she’ll be taken away from them.”

 

“And put into the system?”

 

Kurt’s brow furrowed. “It’s better than sending her home to more abuse.”

 

“You could always just take care of her parents.”

 

“And end up in jail for assault or murder?”

 

“Just threaten them a little, then.”

 

“Still a crime.”

 

Nick folded his arms across his chest. “You’ve gone soft, Kunzite.”

 

“You’re trying to live in the past,” Kurt said. “The Shitennou don’t exist anymore. None of what we knew still exists.”

 

“Tokyo still exists. Naru exists.”

 

“And how old is she now? It’s been twenty-five years, Nick. She’s middle-aged and probably married now, with children of her own.”

 

“I know; I’ve been stalking her online for years. She married that annoying little one with the glasses, and they have two daughters, Kyoko and Satomi,” Nick said. “They divorced last year.”

 

“Don’t tell me you’re hoping to fly over and seduce her yourself.”

 

“If only I could. I was her elder last time we met, and now she's twice my age. I don't know how that would work out.”

 

“There are women who prefer men half their age. They call them cougars.”

 

“Don't call her that!” Nick said, sounding horribly offended. “She's nothing like that.”

 

“Then why are you still cyber-stalking her?”

 

“Because I still care, obviously. Old or not, I still care.”

 

“Are you planning to reach out to her, then? Now that she’s a divorcee?”

 

Nick turned to look at Kurt, trying to judge whether the man was serious or not. Of course he was. He always was.

 

“I thought you didn’t want me living in the past,” he said.

 

Kurt shrugged. “I spent my entire life looking for Zoisite,” he said. “Who am I to judge?”


	5. Ch5

Zarah was blissfully unaware of the hours Kurt had spent at the hospital overnight talking to doctors, police and a social services representative, not to mention having found Nephrite. He only knew he had arrived at ten-thirty in the morning on a Saturday and his mentor had yet to answer his knocks on the door. Had he gone out somewhere? Maybe been called in to work? Finally the door opened.

 

“How was your first-” he began cheerily, before he noticed the man’s dishevelled appearance. “Couldn’t sleep?”

 

“I had an… interesting night.” Kurt stepped aside to allow his pupil to enter, noting that the boy had come alone. “Do your parents know where you are?”

 

“I told them I was going to the library. What happened last night to make it so ‘interesting’?”

 

“Zarah.”

 

“What? If I’d told them where I was going they would’ve insisted on coming with me. At least this way we can get a little privacy.”

 

“If they find out I had you over without permission, they may never trust me again.”

 

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them.” Zarah reached up to smooth Kurt’s wild bed head as he asked again, “What happened last night?”

 

There was a pause as Kurt tried to compose his thoughts, during which Zarah tilted his head curiously.

 

“Someone tried to break into my apartment last night.”

 

“Ohmygosh, are you all right? Did they take anything?”

 

“I’m fine, Zarah. Nothing was taken.”

 

“Well, did you call the police?”

 

“The police were called,” Kurt said. “Everything is going to be fine. But Zarah?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I found Nephrite- Nick, his name is now- and he’s still bitter over what happened between you two back in the Dark Kingdom.”

 

Zarah’s naturally light, rosy skin paled even further as his green eyes grew wide.

 

“You’re sure it was him?” Zarah said. “But I don’t have any powers to defend myself. Does he? Should I carry a weapon? I-I think I have to sit down.”

 

Kurt guided him to sit on the loveseat, and took the seat beside him.

 

“It was Nephrite, I’m sure; he admitted as much. We didn’t discuss powers, but we’re probably safe assuming he doesn’t have them if we don’t. About weapons... I don’t believe he will do anything to harm you, not with the laws here being what they are. I just thought you should know he’s around, just in case.”

 

Zarah sighed in mild relief. At least Nephrite- _Nick_ \- probably wouldn’t have the advantage of powers… or surprise. He would still have a height, weight and strength advantage, though… _if he can catch me_ , Zarah thought. He still had his trademark speed and agility, if nothing else.

 

“Wait a minute, _Nephrite_ tried to break into your apartment? How did he know where you were?”

 

“No, he was the Uber driver who picked us up to go to the hospital.”

 

“Us? Hospital? What?”

 

“The one who tried to break in was a teenaged girl whose parents had beaten her and put her out.” He saw Zarah’s mouth start to open and quickly cut him off. “I took her to the hospital and stayed until the police and Social Services got there, that’s all.”

 

“Well, who was she? What did she look like? She wasn’t prettier than me, was she?”

 

This was just about the time when Kunzite would have offered Zoisite a flower of some sort to help calm him down, but lacking powers, Kurt instead leaned in and gave Zarah a quick peck on the lips. An amused half-smile played at the corners of his own lips as he watched Zarah’s face flush pink.

 

“She was positively plain compared to you,” Kurt said, caressing one of those warm, plump pink cheeks.

 

Zarah nuzzled the hand that cupped his cheek. “I’m glad. Now that we’ve found each other again, I don’t want anything to ever come between us.”

 

“I’ve searched my whole life for you, Zarah. You won’t be getting rid of me that easily.”

 

“You promise?”

 

“On my honor.”

 

That was good enough for Zarah, who grinned widely, threw his arms around the man and kissed him passionately. When Kurt gently pushed him away, Zarah pouted.

 

“What’s wrong now?” he asked. “Why so cold all of a sudden?”

 

 Kurt tried to explain, “You're only seventeen years old. I'm twenty-five.”

 

“It's the same age difference we had back in the Dark Kingdom.”

 

“That was different. Queen Beryl hardly cared about legality.”

 

“Seventeen _is_ legal age here. I checked.”

 

Truthfully, Kurt had checked, too. But somehow Zarah technically being legal didn’t give him much comfort.

 

“So, what, I have to wait til I'm eighteen?” Zarah balked.

 

Even though it was less than six months until his eighteenth birthday, for a young, hormonal teenager who was just coming into his own sexuality (while sitting so tantalizingly close to the one he loved, no less) it felt like an eternity.

 

“Let’s not set a date; it will only put undue pressure on us both to perform. Let it happen on its own, in its own time.”

 

That was what Zarah had thought he _was_ doing! But rather than argue, he closed his eyes and rested his head on Kurt's shoulder, enjoying the warmth and closeness of the moment while it lasted.


	6. Ch. 6

Nick sat at on his couch with his computer on his lap and his hand hovering over the touchpad. All he had to do was click the lower left corner to send a message he had written to Naru on Facebook, yet he found he was too scared to actually do it. What if she didn’t remember him? Or even worse, what if she did remember him and still showed no interest? Not that he would ever know which it was, but in a way that would only make it worse.

 

“When did I become such a coward?” he scolded himself. “Just send it to her.”

 

Yet still his hand hovered over the touchpad until, disgusted with himself, he closed the laptop and tossed it to the other side of the couch. He held his face in his hands. Why couldn’t he just push the damned button? He knew he still cared about Naru. The only question was whether she would still care about him if she knew he had reincarnated… and was some twenty years her junior? Oh, and had been cyber-stalking her for years, couldn’t forget that. Not that she had to know about that last part, but still, he seemed to have a lot going against him here.

 

“Damn you, Zoisite,” he seethed. “This is all your fault.”

 

_ Zarah _ , he remembered. It was quite the distinctive name. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a last name, but he couldn’t imagine there were many people with that name in the area. Nick picked up his laptop once again and typed “Zarah” into Facebook's search feature. Narrow that to people, narrow that to just their city… He recognized the profile picture right away. The boy looked pretty much the same, albeit without the eyeliner and mascara Zoisite had been so fond of to accent his green eyes, and with his dirty blond hair not nearly so long as of yet. The posts and pictures were set to friends only, but he didn’t need to see them. He had a last name now, “Andros”- also rare. Off to one of those people-finding sites, and he had a list of all the Androses in the state. That was quickly narrowed to those in the city, which was only two adults- a Phineas and a Marian. His parents? He didn’t even have to pay to get their address, and though it was tempting to pay for all the extras, he didn’t have the money to spare. He had what he had really come for, anyway.

 

Soon his car pulled up in front of a house which reminded Nick very much of a fanciful gingerbread cottage. It was certainly a far cry from the gloomy mansion Zoisite had shared with Kunzite back in the Dark Kingdom. There was even a well tended  garden out front filled with winter-blooming flowers. It was such a cheery place it could almost make him-

 

There was a knock at his passenger side window, and Nick was startled to see the familiar face of the very boy he'd come to confront. He let down the window just a bit.

 

“My my, you've got a lot of balls, showing up here,” the boy said. “How did you even manage to find me?”

 

He was dressed in a green tracksuit as if he were either going out for or returning from a run (the flush in his cheeks suggested the latter) and his dirty blond hair was tied in a low ponytail at the nape of his neck.

 

“You don't exactly have the most common name; makes you pretty easy to track down.”

 

Zarah nodded acknowledgement to that point.

 

“Don't come here; you'll scare my mom. If you want a fight, we'll meet on neutral ground.”

 

Nick considered that for a moment. As much as he would love to pound that murdering prick into the ground, the idea of going to jail over it didn't appeal to him in the least.

 

“Do you know what you did to me?” he asked rhetorically, but Zarah answered anyway.

 

“ _ I _ didn't do anything; this is our first time ever meeting.”

 

Nick's eyebrow twitched. “Don't try to play innocent. We both know who we are and what happened in our other life.”

 

“So what are you here for? You want me to tell you I'm sorry?”

 

“If you did, you would only be lying.”

 

Zarah shrugged. “Believe what you want. I'm going in to take a shower.”

 

“Don't you dare dismiss me so easily!”

 

The boy sighed and turned back to the window.

 

“You don't want a fight, you don't want a sorry. What  _ do _ you want?”

 

“I… think what I want is impossible,” Nick admitted. “I want the wrongs done against me set right.”

 

“You're right, that is impossible. But we all were given the chance to start over- a whole new life in a new place. We're not under her thumb anymore. We can be and do what we want. Isn't that enough?”

 

“All of us… does this mean you've found Jadeite as well?”

 

Zarah's eyes grew large as if suddenly realizing something he forgot.

 

“The queen froze him in an eternal sleep. Do you think he's still frozen, or did he die with the Dark Kingdom and get reborn like the rest of us?”

 

“They say souls seek out familiar souls time after time.” That was part of the rationale he had used to justify keeping tabs on Naru for all these years. “If he's returned we should find him at some point.”

 

“And if he's still frozen? We can't exactly go to D-Point and look for him.”

 

“We may never know.”

 

But the possibility their fellow Shitennou member could still be frozen weighed heavily on Nick's mind… on Zarah's, too, if the solemn silence and troubled eyes were any indication.

 

Zarah was startled back to the present when a car came down the narrow street from the opposite direction and honked at him to get out of the road. He went around to the other side of Nick's car.

 

“I'm really going in now; don't wanna worry my folks,” Zarah said as he turned to leave. “Nice man-bun, by the way.”

 

The last part had sounded more mocking than sincere, and Nick scowled after the boy’s retreating figure. He really should have pummeled him into the ground, he thought to himself with distaste.

 

“Prick,” he spat as he started the car up again and drove away.

**Author's Note:**

> No prompt this time, just the burning desire to see more from these two.
> 
> As usual, if I take too long writing new chapters, feel free to poke me.


End file.
